co+labo is an Architecture and Urban Design Laboratory at Keio University, Tokyo. It is based in the Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Systems Design Engineering
co+labo is involved in education, research and design-research in the fields of architecture and urban design.

colabo movie

13 October 2015

co+labo radović internal co+labo Competition for a new stage in the life of our Barn House

In 2012, by winning the 3rd LIXIL International Competition for the Next Generation Sustainable House,co+labohas achieved one of its greatest successes. The win at the reputable international competition was a big achievement itself. But, the most important was that the victory was based on true design-reserach exploration of the basic principles of co+labo on rigorous application of an ethos of environmental and cultural responsiveness and responsibility, broader ideas which havefound their spatial expression by responding to multilayered, complex physical, climatic, social and cultural realities of Memu Meadows, Taiki Cho, Hokkaido.

The Barn House questioned and enriched the requirements of the competition brief to accommodate two visiting researchers by adding another two residents, two horses which provided critical contribution to energy balance of the house AND whose presence continues to provoke critical thinking and generates an awareness about the widespread environmental and cultural degradation. The Barn House was designed to remind that sustainable architecture has to address not only the pragmatic issues such as energy balance, but also those related to the poetics and totality of place, that it has the responsibility to deal with meaning, identity, otherness and belonging.One of important aspect of the co+labo concept of Barn House was that the project was never to be finished. The house was conceived as a space of learning, a space to learn in, a space to learn from, and a space which iteslf learns, changes and, hopefully, gets better.

Over the last three years, during their regular visits to Memu Meadows, co+labo students investigated various aspects of the performance of the building, and contributed to efforts to improve it. During the last summer, we have organised an internal co+labo competition of ideas, aiming to open new stage in the life of the Barn House. We sought to address the quality of life of both human and equine residents, and how to make them fully live Hokkaido and enjoy life there.

The Jury members were Milica Muminović (University of Canberra), Komatsu Katsuhito (KKAA, Kengo Kuma Architecture Associates) - both the members of the award winning team, Saikawa Takumi (KKAA, the LIXIL competition advisor), Vuk Radović (co+labo founding partner and team advisor), Meijo Toshiki (KKAA) and Kondo Tetsuo (Kondo Architects). The Chair of the Jury was Darko Radović, and Technical Secretary and Advisor Sano Satoshi.

The awards at the Internal co+labo Barn House Competition 2015 went to:

The members of the Jury have identified a number of elements in each of the projects which deserve consideration, and suggested their further development. co+labo's visiting PhD student Paula Jaen will be in charge of design development team and help the Barn House find new expressions of the values and ideals our laboratory stands for.